As a longtime dog lover, every article about dogs catches my eyes. I always admire working dogs and wonder how capable and faithful they are.
In “The NHS’s number one drug sniffer dog”, Rachael Buchanan reports how eager Paddy, the first sniffer dog of NHS’s, finds out illegal drugs in the hospital; consequently he helps patients get rid of drugs and leads to quick recovery. The handler of Paddy, Julie Traynor says in the article that Paddy is welcomed by patients and works as a therapy dog, too.
It is a common knowledge that dogs have keen noses. Not only top elites of dog’s world, I mean, police dogs or drug sniffer dogs, ordinary dogs without special training can sniff out hidden treats easily. One of my dog’s favorite games is to find treats which are hidden around the house. Sniffing is very important part of his life. When I bring something new to our house, he always check it by sniffing, and after long sniffing he looks up me, as if he said, “No problem, it is OK, you can keep it!” I always bow to him and say “Thank you, inspector.” He likes smell of shoes, stinky cheese, used socks and garbage bin in the kitchen. Every time when I imagine how strong such smells for his sensitive nose can be, I feel sick myself. Dogs may have not only good sense of smell, but also special brain system to manage with it. He also likes good smells. When I put freshly dried laundry in a basket, he sniffs its flowerlike smell happily, and sometimes sits down in the middle of it and takes a nap, which of course makes his owner upset, and the scolded dog has to reluctantly retreat to his crate where is filled with his own smell.
Dogs also can hear well. My daughter and I both play the violin. Because my dog has listened to sounds of violin since he was a puppy, he must have some taste about it. His favorite must be Mozart’s Divertimento to which he earnestly listens with his head little tilting. High pitched and quick played melodies can be his second choice. If it is well played, he starts to howl together. It looks like that he really enjoys howling with the sounds of violin. Several weeks ago, I played the violin after long break. Hearing the violin, my dog came to me, and started to howl, but the next moment he stopped it, turned over and went out from the room without saying anything. Then I know I need more practice. He is not only a pet, but also a capable inspector and critic.
Reference
Buchanan, R. (2012, November 9).The NHS’s number one drug sniffer dog BBC News Health Retrieved November 12, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20256002
Buchanan, R. (2012, November 9).The NHS’s number one drug sniffer dog BBC News Health Retrieved November 12, 2012 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20256002
Great post Chieko.
ReplyDeleteMy family has always had dogs - terriers for the kids, kelpies that really were work dogs when we had cattle but that continued even when the cattle at home were reduced to to half a dozen beef cows for our own freezer, beagles because dad had bred them since he was a little boy (for fox hunting), and usually a few strays that somehow got adopted as puppies. And my mother's corgis, which I'm sure are a bit of a mixture of breeds.
None of them ever critiqued my flute playing - perhaps if they had, I'd have done better.
I know my response is totally off the topic of your chosen article, but that's OK: it's my response and as long as it's my ideas written down in clear sentences, it's a success. ANd it's not totally off at least one topic in your response.
DeleteThank you for getting the class response blogging off to a good start.
Your story make me recall to my brother's story. He play Thai musical instrument like "Saw-ou". So if he played clear and nice, my dog howled with him. On the contrary, if he played bad sound, my dog barked him and ran away, Then I said " Dam! Tow-si (my dog's name) can't tough to listen your music". And now he's a good players and also Thai music teacher. Thanks to my smart dog. lol
DeletePeter, as I wrote, I admire work dogs. Some of your dog must have been hard workers! I especially like the part of your comment,"a few strays that somehow got adopted as puppies" ,because it reminds me of my grandma's house, in which there were always some cats "that somehow got adopted",and grandma looked always happy with them.
DeleteMo, your dog is much cleverer than mine!
DeleteHe/she could be a good critic, if he/she were a human. Because dogs have good ability of hearing, they may hear harmonics better than human, this is why they can tell the difference, I guess. What do you think? Anyway, living with dog is a invaluable experience.
Yes, he is clever even sometimes too much clever. He make a mistakes and act like he don't understand anything. When I turn to be a vet to treat him to inject a vaccine, he hate me and try to hide himself from me. But his weight is around 40 kg. lol
DeleteHowever, I still love him no matter what.
lol I like your dog; he is very smart one. So I think that he isn't easy to manage when he meet a vet like me.
ReplyDeleteI used to meet the dog, Poodle breeds. I didn't know why she knew that I'm a vet without signs like my uniform, even I took a bath before. And her owners said that " Are you vet or vet students?". She's amazed me.
My dogs are always be like your dogs. They always inspect every detail in my house and don't allow the foreign things come to my home. I love them so much. And in weekend, I have to wake up early to feed them before my breakfast because they are in time. lol
Yes, dogs are very punctual.I'm always wondering how they know the time.As you mentioned, I also think the only bad thing of having a dog is that I can't sleep in on weekends, instead, I take nap with my dog together. My dog is a kind of "lion at home, but a mouse abroad".At a hospital, he is always a good boy. Even on the way to a hospital, he is very quiet and calm. On the way to a dogpark or shopping, he is always in good mood and jolly. How can they know? Do you think do they have sixth sense?
DeleteThey know from environment. Maybe when you bring him to the vet clinic with your daughter or other person, not only you, he will know that you don't bring him to the park. I think the dogs have sixthy sense. For instance, why they know that you are coming home. But the researcher said dogs don't have sixth sense but only love and royal to wait to meet their beloved owner again by guessing actually.
DeleteYou have a fantastic dogs, Chieko. I have two dogs,Bigmac, golden retriever name mac and hybrid pomeranian name big. They both so funny. I tried to teach them an easy order, they ignored me!! Anyway, they both are good friend, 3 months ago, mac head was stuck with the door. Big barking a lots until someone notice that something might happen with the dogs. They are very cute!!
ReplyDeleteActually, I wanted to have two dogs! It must be fun to see two dogs playing together.But my house in Japan is too small to keep 2 dogs, so I had to give up. My dog's best friend is a golden retriever whose name is Mame.It means "pea" in Japanese. He is a really big "pea" and very gentle. My dog and me miss him very much. Is your hybrid pomeranian really "big"?
DeleteYour story remind me of my dogs. I used to have two dogs. Although they both passed away 3 years ago,almost at the same time. I still miss them sometimes. As you say that the good sense of smell is very important for dogs. I noticed that a year before I had to say good bye to my dogs, they had lost this sense. It might because they were so old. When I gave them their feeding bowls, I had to put it directly in front of them, unless they could not find it and kept turning around. They are very poor.
ReplyDeleteI imagine how sad you were when both dogs passed away. My dog is now 8 years old, almost healthy, but has some problems with his joints. After a long nap, he sometimes struggles to stand up, and every time when I see it, I feel very sad. He is getting older much faster than me. I'd like to enjoy the life with him as long as we can.
DeleteI had one, a little chihuahua, a long time ago. After the chihuahua, my mother didn't allow me to have a pet. Maybe there were some resons: My mother didn't like taking care of the dog by herself, I was too young to take care of my dog by myself. I didn't easily get out from the grief loosing the dog. My next pets were four white mice. At the time, people didn't have a mouse as a pet. They were really awesome, but they also went. After that, I didn't try having a pet. Your dog seems very cute. I envy you. Is it the dog which is in your popfile picture?
ReplyDeleteI know some chihuahuas in my apartment. They are cute and very brave, aren't they? Yes, that's s dog in the picture on my Facebook. My dog became a member of my family 8 years ago. As usual, it was my daughter who wanted to have a dog, and said that she would take care of a dog by herself. And as usual, she didn't.But it's OK. I enjoy taking care of him, and because of it, I'm always his favorite! Loss of pets is very sad and hard experience. What I can do is taking care of him well and hope that he lives longer.
DeleteIt's very interesting story. I can imagin your happy moments with your dogs. I can guess how you love your dog.
ReplyDeleteI also have some beautiful memories with animals. I think you have keen senses to catch dog's emotions and abilities. Your dog also very smart. I heard that some dogs have a special ability to find out deseas like cancer. I also agree with dogs could be a good friend and a good helper of us.
Good night , see you tomorrow.
I've also heard about the dogs which can sniff cancer. Recently I had pain on my calf and forced my dog to sniff it. He did it reluctuntly for a short time, and walked away indifferently. So,I knew it was no problem! I have no pain anymore, it must be a muscular pain after doing some exercise,I think. I hope someday there are many dogs which can find out cancer by sniffing. This harmless and funny method will help patient's body and mind.
DeleteI also used to have dogs with cats. Some say that I have to raise only one species but I like both of them. They have completely different character and abilities. Especially, I want to learn cat's elegant landing skill. How do they disperse weight and land softly without injury. Fastness with grace! So I like cats In contrast, dogs are compliant and faithful animal apart from street dogs that threaten people including me. They can't land like cats, dog can sniff and they can trace well. One day I went far away from my home with my dog in fact he followed me. I didn't intend to bring him to my destination. While I was doing something in the building, he was playing alone near my sight. But not much late,I found that I lost him. I worried about him, but I coundn't find him. I disappointed to myself. I had to came back home alone without my dog.I was so sad and afraid of him but when I got home, he already came back home. Then I realized that dogs has a special skills to find out and trace something. After that I don't need to worry about my dog.Why? He can find out home without me.
ReplyDeleteI love both cats and dogs. Actually, I'm thinking to have a cat, when I go back Japan.As you mentioned, graceful movement of cats attract me. I also love their independence. I know some dogs which run away suprised by big noise such as truck, train,thunder or others. Not all dogs are lucky or skillful enough to go back home by themselves. Your dog must have been very good at sniffing!
DeleteI have never had a pet dog because I lived in the commercial buildings. However, I would like to have a little one of my own.
ReplyDeleteDo commercial buidings mean shops or shopping malls? In my country some shops have pets, which work as "sporkespets". I mean, those pets attract customers and make them repeaters. Not only shops where goods for pets are sold, but also some normal shops have such kind of pets. I think it is not a bad idea. Which pets do you want to have? Dogs, cats, or other animals?
DeleteI'm not sure what Phong meant when he wrote "commercial building". I was guessing a condo./ apartment with a no pets policy, but I might be wrong.
DeleteNow, I'm more interested in these Japanese sporkespets. Are they pets for sale, or just on the premises to attract customers by being cute and generally attractive? I like the idea, but I'm not sure it would catch on in Australia.
What sorts of shops have them?
I've never heard of this before.
They are usually not on sale.In most cases they are pets of shop owners or shopclerks.
DeleteMost shops are priavetely-run small stores; restaurants, cafe, grocery, clothes and so on.Pet spends daytime with his/her owners at shop and is petted by customers. After shop closes he/she go back home with owners.
In Japan there is a short but famous TV show ( only about 5 minutes ) called kyou no wanko,"dog today". In this show pet dogs are introduced, and some of them are kanbanken of some shops,kanban means "signboard" and ken means "dog", which I translated to spokespets. The TV show has been broadcasted for many years and most Japanese know it.The word kanbanken is well known and used in common. I think this is why there are more shop owners who take their pets to the shops. They can stay with their pets together and if pets attract more customers, it is better. Moreover, there are some cafes in which customers can pet different kinds of cats or dogs while drinking or eating. They are very popular among people, who can't have pets because they live in condo or apartment where having pets is not allowed or their working condition makes it difficult to keep pets. Are there such kind of cafe in Australia?
Chieko,
DeleteThanks for the informative reply.
I was surprised at the variety of shops that have kanbanken (I think we can safely use the Japanese word). In particular, that it includes cafes and restaurants. I'm not sure that Australian law would allow that in a place that prepared or sold food, but I think it's a great idea - my government interferes far too much in everyone's lives because some people don't like some things: if restaurant patrons want to enjoy the company of the ownwer's friendly dog, that should be their choice, not the governments forcing them not to. But I also think that laws banning smoking in restaurants are morally wrong, it being the customers right to decide which sort of restaurants they want to enter - the smoking or the non-smoking type, as decided by the owner, not forced on all by a controlling government.
Getting back to the topic, I'm afraid I might not show much affection for the cats, but I would be very friendly to the dogs. And, yes, if there were a dog I'd made friends with at a shop, that would be another reason for me to go back.